Preaching with our Lives

Praedicare is a blog about the many ways Dominicans preach with their lives, coordinated by Sister Rebecca Hodge, OP, who serves as the Coordinator of Online Preaching for the Congregation. In addition to written blogs, we will be using a multi-media approach to preaching.

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Lent is a time in the church calendar where we are called to take time to look into our souls, into our hearts and find opportunities to deepen our relationship with God. During this Lenten season several of our Sisters use the age-old form of lamentation, offering their thoughts, feelings, and hopes for our world. So come to this page each Wednesday during the Lenten season to experience the wonderful gift of preaching through lamentation. If you feel called to add your words to theirs you may send your offering to kcliatt@adriandominicans.org for consideration.

Sincerely,

Sister Mary Jones, OP

Why I Grieve

The first weekend of November, 10 friends (in what we call a Mission Group) met. During the time of our deep personal sharing we discovered that each of us was profoundly sad because of the state of our country and our world.

At each of our meetings we set aside time to discuss an article or book that we have been studying. At this meeting we were talking about Walter Brueggemann’s book, Reality, Grief, Hope (Walter Brueggemann, Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014). We all have been taught and try to practice being positive, looking for the good in others and situations, not dwelling on negatives. But at this time we all confessed how sad we were and how helpless we felt. Walter Brueggemann helped us to make sense of this and gave us direction how to recognize and put to good use this sadness, this grief.

Brueggemann believes that the crisis of 9/11 amounted to the same kind of defining dislocation in our society as did the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. Further, “that U.S. society is deeply committed, as was ancient Israel to an ideology of exceptionalism” and that “we are a country in denial and the purpose of this denial is to maintain old privilege and entitlement and to fend off the reality of the world.” As a people we are in denial that the American Dream no longer is available to everyone who would earnestly pursue it. We are in denial that our planet can no longer support our lifestyle and military budget. Brueggemann says, “The prophetic task, amid a culture of denial, is to embrace, model, and practice grief, in order that the real losses in our lives can be acknowledged.”

These last words struck us profoundly and we felt impelled to respond in some way. What we have chosen to do is to write and to invite others to write lamentations that reflect our pain and sadness. Perhaps our words will strike a note in you and will help you with your grief. If so, we invite you to write a lamentation and email it to kcliatt@adriandominicans.org.

LINKS

Recent Posts

PosadasPosted 4 days agoAt this time of year, many cultures have unique traditions that help them to celebrate the meaning of Jesus’ birth. One such tradition in Latin American countries and among the Hispanic culture in the United States is the Posada.
Posadas are a novena procession and drama, re-enacting the story of ...

Feast of Our Lady of GuadalupePosted 6 days agoSister Patricia Harvat, OP, offers a reflection (in English and Spanish) on Our Lady of Guadalupe in the latest Praedicare video by Sister Rebecca Hodge, OP.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weh_F33bnq8

How Important is Study?Posted 3 weeks agoPlease enjoy this video from Sister Rebecca Hodge, OP, who recently interviewed Sister Mary Jones, OP, about the Dominican Pillar of Study.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O48cYnVa9N0

A Short Reflection on MaryPosted last monthIf you search the Internet for Marian feast days, you will find a calendar celebrating Mary every day of the year. How can a woman whose words were so sparsely captured in the New Testament be so spectacularly honored? I suggest three endearing qualities: faithful humility, simple obedience, and ...

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Link: https://youtu.be/ZX-A1mmDDag

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Prayer and PresencePosted 10 months ago
Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, OP, sits second from left.
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